Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android phone were among the top selling smartphone devices last year, with customers looking increasingly towards applications when buying a new handset.
Technology research firm Gartner said that the iPhone and the Android saw the largest increases in the worldwide smartphone market, with the Apple product taking a 14.4 per cent share and the HTC 3.9 per cent.
The iPhone also managed to clip the wings of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, with its market share dropping from 11.8 per cent to 8.7 and the Apple device becoming the market leader.
However, Symbian, which powers many Nokia devices, remained the dominant smartphone operating system, with a market share of 46.9 per cent.
Applications are playing a large role in people’s smartphone choices, according to Gartner, with Apple having three billion of them downloaded in the last 18 months.
Among those that have proved popular include a Sky Mobile application which allows people to watch live sports programmes and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.